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06/30/2004

Did CERT *really* say to not use Internet Explorer?

A day or two ago, I ran across a story
from a "less than first tier" news source that said CERT's advisory
about the latest Microsoft virus included a recommendation to not use Internet
Explorer. Figuring that was pretty bad news when a government "anti-terrorism"
agency frowns on your software, I went over to CERT to see the warning.
All I can find is recommendations to turn off JavaScript, update
your antivirus software, run firewalls, blah, blah, blah...

Now there are a number of stories about
the CERT advisory, most of which have quotes similar to the following:

CERT recommends that Explorer users
consider other browsers that are not affected by the attack, such as Mozilla,
Mozilla Firefox, Netscape and Opera. Mac, Linux and other non-Windows operating
systems are immune from this attack. For people who continue
to use the Internet Explorer, CERT and Microsoft recommend setting the
browser's security settings to "high," but that can impair some
browsing functions.

I *still* can not find a reference to this
on the CERT site... Can anyone help me out? Did I just not
see the particular warning, or is this just lazy journalism with people
not checking their facts before writing the story?

Now, when I requested this for review,
I was expecting something in terms of programming patterns and technical
material. What I got was a great business tool for modeling typical
business objects and transactions. The authors take a business concept
like Inventory, and they build a model around it. The model is an
archetype, or a entity that exists in some shape in every business. Through
UML diagrams, you'll see all the parts that make up the archetype and how
to take the parts you need to build your own version of the entity. While
the Inventory model is very comprehensive in the book, you can also pull
the pieces you need to model the reality that exists in your own business.

There's some very practical benefits you
can gain from this book. If you're building an application and need
to track a customer (for example), you can turn to the Party model and
see all the parts that make up that type of entity. This will help
you to understand all the data elements that make up a Party, such as address
(web, email, telephone, geographic), organization, person/gender/ethnicity,
relationship, etc. These are elements you might think of and/or remember
to include, but having the model there helps you get it right early on.

If you're a business analyst, you will
really get your value from this book. And if you're a developer who
also has to design the systems, you'll look like a wizard when you complete
a solid design with features the customer didn't even realize they needed.

Microsoft is going to release a number
of their developer products as "express" packages. Low/no-cost
versions of the full packages like SQL Server or Visual Studio.Net meant
to capture the hobbyist or non-professional developer. A really good
move on their part, as how can you compete with thousand dollar packages
when the competition (such as Linux or MySQL) is free for downloading?
The quote of interest to me:

The new Express offerings will not be
a big profit generator for Microsoft. "This is really about broadening
the base," said Eric D. Rudder, a senior vice president. "We're
trying to make the Microsoft commercial ecosystem bigger."

Sounds like they are feeling the pinch
and are looking to stem the tide of developers to open source alternatives.

06/29/2004

Sun: IBM needs to contribute more to the open source movement... HUH???

From InfoWorld: Sun's
McNealy chides Microsoft, Red Hat, IBM
Scott McNealy is trying to fend off calls for Sun to turn Java over to
the open source community. In this article, we have the following
bite:
Sun has been a good steward of Java, McNealy said, defending the company’s
position to not open up Java under an open source format. “Somebody’s
got to be in charge or nobody is,” he said. He also criticized IBM for
urging Sun to offer Java under an open source format, stressing IBM
has been lacking in its own open source contributions while Sun has been
a major contributor.
Did I miss something here? How much of Eclipse was underwritten by
IBM? Wasn't Xerces, the XML parser from IBM turned over to open source?
How much work has IBM been doing on the portal standards? I'm
sure there is much more I'm not aware of, too.
I think McNealy needs to get his facts straight before shooting off his
mouth like that.

06/29/2004

Some random Linux news articles...

It seems like less than a year ago, Microsoft
was publically saying that there was no real threat from Linux. Now
Bill Gates is flying all over the place offering to create custom versions
of Windows for very little cost.

Quotes of interest: An OS, or
platform if you like, becomes dominant by virtue of becoming the source
of innovation for the IT industry. That explained the rise of Solaris and
the rise of Windows, but the spark has now clearly passed to Linux. It
is really only a matter of time before Linux becomes completely dominant
in the server space.

As for the desk-top, it is difficult
to say. The major gating factor for take-up is that device vendors have
yet to provide it with good driver support, which will only come with grater
take-up. This may now be happening to some degree. I heard an interesting
comment about a month ago. In the US Wal-Mart sells Linux PCs and is doing
good business with them. Recently, I'm told, it started to sell these bargain
PCs in units of 5, 10, 15 and 20. It's clear that home PC buyers don't
buy such quantities. So, it looks like some of SME market is already voting
for the Linux PC.

06/29/2004

I haven't done a "what's been Googled here" in awhile...

I know a number of the bloggers occasionally
go through their referrer hits to see what sort of search engine hits brought
visitors to the site. I haven't done that in awhile, so let's see
what happened in the month of June...

Spam Sentinel - Warms the cockles of my
heart to see people hit my site for that term... :-)

lotus scream cam - is this some new piece
of Halloween software or what?

"enron OR broadband OR girlyman Tom
Duff" - From an Intel IP address in Santa Clara.... I'd love
to know more about *that* one.

"enron OR broadband OR pantywaist
dan porter" - Same Intel IP address, a minute before the previous
entry. Dan was my boss at Enron.

"is Barry Bonds supplementing"
- your guess is as good as mine.

anti-gary - I thought this was hitting
my thread about Microsoft speakers at IBM conferences, but I was wrong...

Everything else seemed to be Domino related
in most cases... One thing I've noticed. I've heard that Google
can go a number of weeks between visits to your site. I'm finding
that Google seems to pick up my content every couple of days. I wonder
if they have some sort of formula they use to determine how often to index
your site based on new content.

06/28/2004

Book Review - Open Source Solutions For Small Business Problems by John Locke

I just finished a rather interesting and
different book on Open Source Software. The title is Open
Source Solutions for Small Business Problems
by John Locke (Charles River Media). The author contacted me and
asked if I'd like to review the book, and I accepted. Since this
is an area which is grabbing more of my interest these days, it was helpful
in many ways...

When I first started reading it, I was
expecting something non-technical in nature, something that would be targeted
for the average business owner that knows s/he wants to spend less on software
and is looking for alternatives. And to be sure, the book does deliver
to that group. But there are also chapters (or areas within each
chapter) where the content gets pretty technical. For instance, the
detail on how to set up a web server isn't for the person who simply wants
to turn on their computer and go. These areas are going to appeal
to the in-house technical support person who's been charged with making
it all work. While you could (and probably should) find whole books
on many of these topics, there's enough detail to get you started in the
right direction.

I think Part 2 is extremely valuable, in
that it helps both the business owner and the techie figure out what's
available in terms of open source alternatives to the typical business
software. You learn about OpenOffice.org as a replacement to Microsoft's
Office. You learn about MySQL as an alternative to Microsoft Access
or many other more expensive relational database systems. You'd be
able to find all this out if you dug around on the web long enough, but
the author packages up the information in a single location and helps you
start to understand what's available for you.

There's also a CD in the back of the book
that contains many of the open source packages discussed in the book. Being
that these packages move pretty quickly as far as release cycles go, I
think I'd prefer visit the web site for the specific package and download
the latest. Still, if you're wanting something quick, you'll have
it on the CD.

At first, the mix of technical and non-technical
content in each chapter didn't quite set right. I wanted the book
to target one or the other. But the longer I read, the more I liked
the fact that the book could serve as a single volume to allow both the
tech and non-tech sides of a business to come together on common ground.
The non-techies can ignore the parts that are over their heads, but
still understand the possibilities. The techies will understand where
the business is coming from, and will get a good start on implementing
the software. As a result, I give this book high marks for anyone
wanting to some or all of their business computing to an open source model.

06/27/2004

Whoo-hoo! Duffbert has a penguin now!

Meet the newest addition to the computing
basement.... Fedora Core 2 and Tux!

I got enough of the desk cleared off to
set up the spare machine, and I downloaded the four ISO images of the Fedora
Core 2 system. Other than it taking a long time to set up, it went
without a hitch. Now, there's only a 10 GB hard drive in there, and
I just told it to load everything (desktop, server, the whole works). So
I think I have a whopping 2 GB free now. :-)

My next task is to find a cheap 20 GB (or
so) hard drive to put in there so that I have some space to do things with.
I'll then start working through a couple of O'Reilly books and figure
out what I can really do with it.

I must admit it's rather cool to have two
boxes on my desk... One that is totally Microsoft for the core functions,
and one that doesn't have a single shred of Microsoft on it.

06/27/2004

Book Review - Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich

Yes, time for guilty pleasures again...
It's Janet Evanovich's latest Stephanie Plum novel, Ten
Big Ones. Every time one of
these come out, I always fear it's going to be the start of a downward
spiral a la Patricia Cornwell. I'm happy to report that Evanovich
is still on track with fun reads.

Stephanie Plum (a "fugitive apprehension
agent") starts out at the wrong place at the wrong time when she witnesses
a robbery by someone wearing a red devil mask. She also sees his
real face, and she's the only person who can identify him and stop a string
of increasingly violent hold-ups by this guy. Turns out he's part
of a gang who wants her dead. Plum, her "partner" Lula,
and Grandma Mazur end up dodging gang members who are hunting her down.
Her cop boyfriend Morelli wants her to quit the job and hole up in
his apartment, but she wants none of that. Ranger, the mystery man
who excites and scares her, loans her his truck after her car gets blown
up (again!). She hides out in his apartment, and then has to figure
out how she feels about him vs. Morelli when he returns unexpectedly and
finds her camping out there. Throw in her sister's impending wedding
and a transvestite wedding planner/bus driver/singer, and you once again
have a wacky read with unforgettable characters.

I've yet to read one of these novels that
I haven't liked. There is less Vincent (the head of the bond agency)
in this one, but much more Lula. In fact, Lula ends up going out
with Stephanie on most of the collections, and adds plenty of color to
the apprehensions. You also learn more about Ranger, and there's
a fair amount of room there for the next installment. Which I already
am looking forward to...

06/26/2004

Book Review - Plan Of Attack by Dale Brown

I think this will catch me up on my book
reviews over the last week... :-)

For some recreational reading, I picked
up Dale Brown's Plan
Of Attack. This is one of those
military war thrillers involving the use of hi-tech weaponry to defeat
the enemy. Overall, a pretty good read.

In the latest episode of Patrick McLanahan's
adventures, he's been demoted a rank for once again skirting a direct order
given to him for defending a certain area by having and using some offensive
weapons when they are attacked. He ends up tucked away at a desk
top with strict orders to mind his own business and just do his job. But
he ends up getting intel that points to Russia preparations to launch a
full-scale nuclear attack on the US. His direct superiors won' t
listen to what appears to be an outlandish conclusion, so he goes over
their heads and ends up facing a court martial. But of course, he's
right and the attack takes place. His small group of hi-tech commandos
are one of the few resources left to counter-attack, and he has to once
again disobey some orders in order to make his plan happen.

Since this book uses characters that have
appeared in other Dale Brown novels, there is not a lot of background character
development. If you haven't read the previous novels, you might be
a little lost as to why McLanahan is viewed in such a negative light. The
story moves along at a decent pace, and the different weaponry is interesting
to think about. While I didn't see it as a "can't put it down"
book, I did enjoy the read.

06/26/2004

Security concerns may be Microsoft's achillies heel in the Linux conversions...

I know that most of the time, Microsoft
vs. Linux arguments center around the "Linux is free" mindsets.
And while there are varying levels of truth to that statement, there
are other concerns out there too.

The story related to the Munich government
switching to desktop Linux is now pretty well-known. This article
is an interview with the city IT chief, and talks about IT issues surrounding
the decision. There's one statement in there that should serve as
a major wakeup call to Microsoft and send a cold chill down the spines
of the marketing people:

What were the main reasons for the
city's decision to change to Linux?
The key aspect was the ability to control the release policy ourselves;
in other words to free ourselves from reliance on the product cycles of
a small number of software companies.

Another important point, of course, was
licence costs, and security also plays an important part. We are switching
directly from Windows NT to Linux, since NT, which is non-secure, was followed
by a number of systems from the same manufacturer, which were also open
to attack.

Our OS was insecure, and the ongoing pattern
from "the same manufacturer" is much the same. This is
something that cut-rate licensing and visits from Mr. Ballmer can't fix.
And based on the most recent security issues sweeping the 'net from
Microsoft's latest software flaw, I don't know that anything else can either.

So, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft
starts touting how much better security is in MS software than Linux now...
:-)

06/26/2004

Linux, Wintel, and Lotus Workplace...

OK... I'm not quite ready to buy
all the assumptions here, as large companies *usually* don't let newcomers
destroy their markets. Well... um... never mind that
last statement.

Anyway... There was a line in this
article I found interesting:

The Wintel oligopoly looks strong, but
is extremely vulnerable because of Intel's failure to deliver on Itanium.
Without a replacement for the x86, Wintel has no place to go but down --
and neither IBM nor Sun, the two companies with technically successful
CPU strategies in the works, have anything to lose by accelerating that
process.

Last week, I talked about the cell processor
expected from Sony
(NYSE: SNE) and
IBM
(NYSE: IBM) [Paul
Murphy, "Fast,
Faster and IBM's PlayStation 3 Processor,"
LinuxInsider, June 17, 2004]. This week I want to think out loud about
what happens in the industry if Toshiba launches a PC based on this processor
into the Asian market and IBM promptly follows suit with a series aimed
at the American and European markets. Such a machine would run Linux,
be compatible with most Linux software, and come with a subscription license
to a suite of IBM software built around Lotus Workspace.

It's not "converting the Domino masses",
but instead targeting a whole new group of users for whom the field of
collaboration is something new. It will be interesting to see how
all this plays out.

06/26/2004

Microsoft's latest security snafu...

I've reproduced the information that Microsoft
is providing on their latest security risk that is putting millions of
web users at risk. I'm *still* awaiting for the first class action
lawsuit to result from one of these massive virus attacks...

What You Should Know About Download.JectPublished: June 24, 2004
| Updated June 25, 2004 8:35 P.M. Pacific Time

Microsoft teams are investigating a report
of a security issue known as Download.Ject affecting customers using Microsoft
Internet Information Services 5.0 (IIS) and Microsoft Internet Explorer,
components of Windows. (Download.Ject is also known as: JS.Scob.Trojan,
Scob, and JS.Toofeer.)

Important Customers who have
deployed Windows XP Service Pack 2 RC2 are not at risk.

Reports indicate that Web servers running
Windows 2000 Server and IIS that have not applied update 835732, which
was addressed by Microsoft
Security Bulletin MS04-011, are
possibly being compromised and being used to attempt to infect users of
Internet Explorer with malicious code.

How to Help Protect Your
Systems

System administrators. System administrators
should follow the steps outlined in Knowledge
Base Article 871277 to apply
update 835732 and take any recovery steps that may be necessary.

Check for InfectionTo determine if the malicious code is on
your computer, search for the following files:

Kk32.dll

Surf.dat

Steps
for Windows XP users:1. On
the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, click Start, and then
click Search. 2. Under
What do you want to search for? click All files and folders.
3. Under
All or part of the file name:
type: Kk32.dll
and then click the Search button. 4. Under
All or part of the file name:
type: Surf.dat
and then click the Search button.

If either of these files is present, your
computer may be infected. You can find tools to clean your computer and
obtain up-to-date antivirus protection from the following software vendors
participating in the Microsoft Virus Information Alliance:

06/25/2004

Book Review - Black Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age by John Biggs

I recently received a copy of Black
Hat: Misfits, Criminals, and Scammers in the Internet Age
by John Biggs from Apress. While the information technology professional
might not learn anything new from this book, it will serve as a readable
resource to help typical computer users to understand the threat to their
well-being when they surf the internet.

Biggs has written a relatively short (158
pages) book that deals with most of the major security risks an average
user will face on a regular basis on the internet. For example, the
chapter on spam starts off with a real-life scenario involving Alan Ralsky,
a well-known spammer. You're then taken back to the early days of
the 'net when the first generally recognized piece of spam made its appearance
in UseNet. The growth of unsolicted mail is tracked to current day
levels, as well as the reasons why spammers do what they do. He even
takes a typical piece of spam mail and dissects the headers to show the
reader how all is not as it seems in terms of where it came from and how
it got to you. The current solutions, along with the pros and cons
of each are discussed, in addition to where spam seems to be headed in
the future. All this is done in a narrative fashion that stays at
a level that is understandable to the average "Joe Computer User".

The chapter on scams is also very valuable
for helping people avoid getting fleeced. A lot of space is given
to the Nigerian 419 scam, where you are asked to help someone transfer
money out of their country into your bank account for a cut of the millions.
I keep thinking no one would fall for this, but it still keeps sucking
people in. Biggs also explains phishing scams, where users end up
at web sites which are clever imitations of real sites. The person
enters financial or personal information, and then finds themselves the
victim of credit or identity fraud. This is definitely a scam on
the upswing, and can catch people at all levels of internet expertise.

I personally enjoyed reading it, knowing
that there were a number of people I would recommend it to. Like
my kids or my parents. :-) If you're not an IT professional
but you are an internet user, this book will help you to understand and
avoid some very real dangers out there.

06/25/2004

Book Review - Scarecrow by Matthew Reilly

I recently finished Scarecrow
by Matthew Reilly. This is one of those techno-thrillers that you
will either love for the constant action or hate because it's so implausible.
I tend towards the constant action guilty pleasure end of the spectrum...
:-)

Shane Schofield, a Marine with the code
name Scarecrow, is leading a mission to Siberia to attack some rebels who
are holding the world hostage with a threat to fire off nuclear missiles.
But when he gets there, he finds that he is the quarry of a number
of bounty hunters who are after him and want his head to claim the $18
million reward. And he's just one of 15 people on this worldwide
list of targets. He has to figure out who's on the list, why they
are on the list, who's sponsoring the hunt, and stop the resulting terror
that's about to be unleashed by these people if they are not stopped. And
by the way, he needs to stay alive himself.

Reilly purposely writes a novel that is
designed to be constant cliffhanger action. The scenarios are usually
made up of insurmountable odds, which he then beats. The escapes
are improbable and spectacular, and if you're of the "hate it"
camp, you'll quickly tire of the leaps of believability that you'll have
to make to stay with the story. But if you suspend belief and read
it for what it is, an action-filled "Indiana Jones" type adventure,
it's a lot of fun.

I'm not sure I'd recommend this to everyone,
but if you just want an escape, it's great fun.

06/24/2004

Time to reevaluate my email accounts...

At the start of June, I had three main
personal email accounts (one on Yahoo, two in Hotmail) that delivered up
a whopping 54 MB of storage. I tend to keep my mail files pretty
small and clean, so I never really maxed them out. The Hotmail accounts
are pretty much throw-aways, and I've gone to only checking them once every
two or three days.

Now, I'm sitting with four email accounts
(add in the new Google account), and I have a whopping 3.5 GB of mail storage.
Now, just *what* am I going to do with that much space???

First off, I'm going to phase out my Hotmail
accounts. I've got a couple of MyPoints accounts that are about ready
to reach a reward level that I'll cash in on. At that point, I'll
shut them down. The Google account is quickly becoming my central
point of reference for writing interaction and industry news. The
Yahoo account will still hang around for when I want to give out a real
email address but don't necessarily want to take a risk on spam. I
know I can't keep the Google account spam-free forever, but we'll see how
it all goes.

06/23/2004

A couple "new" blogs of note...

First off, I've seen a few references to
a new blogger... Bob
Obringer. A very unique design
with some really good content so far. Welcome to the blogging world,
Bob!

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mentione
the relatively new e-Pro blog called The
Lotus Informer. This blog is
managed by Libby
Schwarz of NotesGirl fame, and will
have entries by her, the technical editors of the different e-ProWire newsletters,
and a few guest bloggers on occasion. And the best part is... We
don't have to agree with each other! Feel free to drop in and comment.

06/22/2004

Living with a type 1 diabetic...

Ian's been diabetic since he was 8, and
he's nearly 18 now. He graduated from high school this week, and
we gave him a trip to Disneyland with two of his friends. It's tough
to let him go, as what happens if he goes low or has an episode?

We know the answer now. It's been
quite an evening...

He took a nap, which is something he shouldn't
do as it messes up his blood sugars. His friends noticed he was not
quite coherent, and tried to get some glucose gel down him. No go.
They had to draw and deliver a glucogon shot to his leg. He's
back up and alert now, and they don't want me to make a rush flight down
there to watch them.

Calls to the doctor, the hotel, the pharmacy,
the cab company, and the kids... It's hard enough watching (and letting)
your kids grow up. Lessons like this are even harder. I think
I'll feel much better once he's back Friday night.

06/22/2004

Giving Linux A Lead Role At Home

As a tech professional, I think this is
a very good idea for a number of reasons. For one, we should always
be in learning mode in order to keep ourselves fresh and up-to-date with
current technology. Second, I would make the argument that Linux
is quickly growing and you'll encounter it more and more as you move forward.
And third, businesses are going to be looking at Linux as a viable
alternative to MS software with ever-increasing frequency. If you
take the time to position yourself now, you'll be in a prime position to
be in the forefront of that movement when your company starts to wonder
about alternatives.

And considering that all the software you
need is available (legally!) at no cost, your return on investment should
be pretty quick... :-)

Microsoft... this is *not* how to win friends and influence people...

I find these two stories rather amusing.
Microsoft certainly is more than happy to use fear, uncertainty,
and doubt to freeze the competition and the market. But when government
groups in other countries start asserting their independence from the Microsoft
monopoly, that's "different". I don't believe for a moment
that Microsoft only wants a "neutral" policy. In order
to continue to satisfy shareholders and show consistent growth, they can't
afford to have entire countries start turning their back on them.

Microsoft is starting to show signs of
maturing and leveling off so far as growth goes. Stock buyback programs,
cutting staff, cut-rate offerings to new markets to try and gain new market
share. I'm not all too sure I'd want to be an MS shareholder in the
near-term.

The Munich showdown... Linux vs. Microsoft... And the winner is...

In my opinion, this is a *very* significant
win as Microsoft was unable to buy their way past this. Even with
cheaper prices and significant licensing concessions, the city decided
to go with open source software and not tie themselves into a single vendor
OS solution. It will also be a crucial test for the use and interoperability
of Linux on the desktop. I felt that this was the "year of the
Linux desktop", and all it would take is one or two major companies
to make the switch to open the doors. Having an entire government
operation will do just as well...

Time will tell how it all works out, but
this could be a pivotal point in the history of the Linux/Microsoft struggle.

06/20/2004

Book Review - Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy

While at my conference this week, I started
and finished Monkeewrench
by P. J. Tracy. This is a very nice cyberthriller with a number of
plot turns that does a pretty good job until the very end.

A software company called Monkeewrench
puts out educational software, but decides to go with a serial killer "who
dun it" game. While some of their clients aren't thrilled about
the content, things are OK until a series of real life murders start mimicing
each level of the killings in the game. The killings are occuring
once a day, and even with the cops staking out the locations, they can't
prevent the killings. The leading programmer (Grace McBride) is a
security paranoid who is blaming herself for all the killings, and the
cops are wondering if the killer is her or one of her four co-workers at
the company. The cops from two different killings are able to trace
down who the killer might be based on some clues, but they have no idea
who this person might be at this point in time (due to name changes). To
complicate issues, all of the Monkeewrench staff have blocked FBI files
and no traceable history past 10 years ago. The killer starts communicating
with McBride and seems to be getting close to killing her also. All
this builds up to a final showdown where the full story is revealed and
the true killer is uncovered.

First off, I really like good cyberthrillers
where computer software or technology plays a lead role in the story. For
that, the book gets high marks. The building tension of each killing
with no way to stop them is also well done. The final scene was,
in my opinion, a bit of a letdown. The revealed killer along with
the story of why it all happened didn't make a lot of sense, and it seemed
like it could have finished up better. Still, a very good read, especially
if you like novels that include elements of computer gaming and programmer
lifestyles.

06/20/2004

Book Review - Liars & Thieves by Stephen Coonts

Stephen Coonts' latest novel, Liars
& Thieves, is a reasonably good
techo-espionage thriller set in the United States. Tommy Carmellini
is a CIA agent who happens to stumble upon a CIA safehouse as a massacre
is going down. The disturbing part is that the killers are most definitely
from the US and look professional (either military or law enforcement).
Carmellini is able to rescue one lady who is a Russian interpreter
debriefing a Russian defector that was an archivist for the government
and copied seven cases of materials over the years. The defector
is able to escape on his own, but his age and failing memory leaves him
in a state of confusion as to where he is and what's happening. The
killers figure out who Carmellini is, and he (and anyone around him) is
now a target of someone who appears to be high up in the government, and
wants everything related to the defector (including the defector himself)
eliminated to protect a secret. Carmellini enlists the help of Jake
Grafton (a major character from earlier Coontz novels) to get to the bottom
of the mystery and to stay alive.

I'd give this a higher rating if it weren't
for a stretch before the final showdown takes place. Through the
first half of the book, someone is after Carmellini is being hunted every
time he turns around. Once he decides to go to New York to try a
last effort to uncover the truth, he ends up being left alone for a number
of days while he sets up survellience and listening bugs. Then at
the end, he's conveniently a walking target again and nearly gets killed
at every turn. The break just didn't seem to fit too well in the
story flow. That fact notwithstanding, it's an entertaining read
that will entertain you for awhile.

06/20/2004

Back from Westminster, and Duffbert on a t-shirt!

I got back from Westminster, Colorado last
night after attending the Penton editorial conference for two days. I
had a great time. I met a number of talented people, participated
in a lot of useful information exchanges and brainstorms, and laughed a
lot. The e-Pro team of tech editors is made up of Libby
(our leader, or so...), Chris
Miller, Michael Fromin, and myself.
I already knew Libby and Chris, but I had never met Michael. Great
guy, and a hockey fanatic to boot. It didn't take us long to figure
out we shared that in common, and we were quickly left to babble about
all things hockey-related... :-) Michael won the article award
for internal writers (well-deserved, I might add), I won an award for being
the writer with the best on-time record for article due dates, and I also
was awarded the e-Pro t-shirt award for my alter-ego, Duffbert...

Too funny... I'm sure Chris will
have a number of pictures posted soon, including a new Miami Vice duo who
made their law enforcement debut at Dave & Buster's after Friday night's
dinner... You'll just have to head over there and see for yourself
once the pics are posted.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience,
and I feel like I'm part of a great team at Penton. I'm looking forward
to continuing my writing and sharing for all of you.

06/17/2004

Kicking back in Westminster, Colorado...

I made it safely here to Westminster....
The flight from Portland to Denver was uneventful, and I found Chris
and Libby
with no problems. We had a nice lunch with Michael Fromin at Tuk
Tuk's (a Thai-Asian place), and now it's time to relax until this evening's
activities.

I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about SpamSentinel, Mayflower Software, and InsideDomino...

I'm just amazed that they still have Elgort's
article on the front page, even with the negative feedback on the article
and a few blog entries.

So, they either don't care about their
ethics (that's bad), they don't read their feedback (that's bad), they
don't feel they are in the wrong (that's bad), or they are that desperate
for content that they'll risk bad press and potential legal action to get
it (that's bad).

If anyone *ever* thinks I'm behaving in
that type of manner or am pushing the envelope of what's ethical, *PLEASE*
hold me accountable!

06/15/2004

Linux "jihad"?

Microsoft's "Get The Facts" roadshows
in England have been getting a pretty fair chunk of press lately, as well
as a quote from an MS executive that could best be termed "inappropriate".
At one of the events, an MS exec said that the anti-Microsoft feelings
of Linux supporters was a "jihad".

Now, I'm a little frustrated that we (American
society) has become so politically sensitive in our speech. Kevin
Garnett described one of the basketball playoff games as a "war",
and got lambasted in the press for belittling the war effort. Bill
Parcells referred to surprise plays using a term that was offensive to
Japanese-Americans. I'm amazed that Larry Bird hasn't been strung
up for his comments about the NBA needing more "white players".
But this is apparently what we've become, and using politically or
racially charged wording in public is a bad thing.

So using our current standards, referring
to anything in the technical realm as a "jihad" is highly inappropriate.
This term is associated with religious warfare and now terrorism.
Microsoft's use of the word in referring to their competition crosses
a number of lines and standards that shouldn't be approached.

06/15/2004

Yahoo's rough day, but let's cut them some slack...

Today was the first day of Yahoo's new
mail offerings. Free accounts at 100 MB, and paid accounts upgraded
to 2 GB. The paid accounts have a bit of an interface change too.
I found out later in the day that Akamai had a denial of service
attack, and that affected the Yahoo mail system. So that explains
how come the Yahoo mail service has been iffy at best today. Sometimes
I get a response, sometimes I don't. Sometimes the delete button
works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I can reply to an email, and
sometimes I can't.

Now if this were the new state of things,
I'd be majorly miffed. But I'm sure they are pulling out all the
stops to get things cleaned up. And being I got a size increase on
the order of several magnitudes over what I had before, I'm feeling that
a little patience and understanding is in order.

06/14/2004

Bah! I *scoff* at your 1 GB email accounts!

I woke up this morning and went to check
my Yahoo mail account. I paid for a 50 MB account a few months back,
since I use that as my primary email account. I wondered how the
GMail situation would affect that. Now I know.

There was a notice in my mail file this
morning telling me I had... *TWO* GB of mail storage now!

06/14/2004

Book Review - The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics For An Imperfect World

There's the official and sanitized version
of how IT works and how to manage your career within that realm. And
then there's the *real* lowdown from those who have been there. Christopher
Duncan has written a funny but all too true guide to IT in his book The
Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World
(Apress).

OK... Looking at this list of chapters,
you may be thinking, ho hum. But when you are quickly introduced
to the night guard's attack Chihuahua who is paranoid from dodging monitors
that have been thrown out of the 5th story window, you know you're in for
something different. And in the last chapter, you'll find this gem
concerning resumes designed to weed out potential idiots you may not want
to work for (and yes, this is part of *his* resume):

This system supports controllers in
their management of large, heavy flying objects containing people who typically
prefer uneventful landings, so the system must run 24/7 with zero failures...
Design phase of the system utilized UML and only a small number of cocktail
napkins, all of which were object oriented.

Perhaps it's not a recommended style, but
it goes to show that you are looking for the right boss as much as they
are looking for the right developer.

The chapters on designing your application
are especially valuable as they show you how to deal with too much work
in too little time with next to no requirements. You'll learn how
to play the game such that you can build in the time you need to do the
necessary design (or at least as much as you can hope for) and not find
yourself forever working 20 hour days to deliver a project that is never
done. And throughout the book, Duncan's irreverent wit and sense
of humor will keep you laughing and reading along.

This should probably be required reading
for all new IT personnel starting out on their "grand adventure".
And for those who have been in the field for awhile but still can't
understand why they work 70 hour weeks for months on end, you'll find some
ways out in these pages.

06/14/2004

Book Review - Nice Girls Finish Last by Sparkle Hayter

With all the talk from Greyhawk
lately about "guilty pleasures", perhaps I have to come to grips
with this book genre as being my form of said guilt...

Some time back, someone recommended Sparkle
Hayter to me as an author. She writes in the female amateur detective
genre, much like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I was low
on recreational reading material, so I picked up Nice
Girls Finish Last. I think
I've found another favorite author...

The main protagonist in this series is
Robin Hudson. She's a reporter for a large news network, and she's
part of the "Special Reports" division. That would be the
group that does stories on alien abductions and stuff. She's not
thrilled with this assignment, but she's stuck with it. A doctor
in her work building is found murdered, and it looks like there might be
an element of S&M involved. The news editor wants Hudson to package
the story as an S&M killing, even though she thinks it might have nothing
to do with that. She starts investigating on her own, but unfortunately
all the guys in her work and personal life are also getting shot at (she
was supposed to have an appointment with the doctor that got killed later
that evening). The police see her as the common thread, but she can't
figure out why for the life of her. And it might be a short life
if she can't get it solved quickly...

The character is single and cynical, loves
the big city and her job, but hates her boss. A real modern woman.
The dialogue and writing is sharp and witty, and I got into the story
and the characters pretty easily. The book is pretty short, so it's
not much of a time investment to read. Well worth picking up if you
want to indulge your "guilty pleasures"... :-)

06/14/2004

Well... *That* was a productive weekend, in a geeky sort of way...

While some might consider it just another
sign that Tom needs a life, I considered it pretty productive...

First off, I fixed the BlogSphere template
to stop the horrendous load times you all had to put up with. I'm
still surprised it was nothing more than a view indexing setting. It
should have been obvious to me, but then again, all things are easy once
you know the answer. That single event would have been more than
enough to call it a great weekend... Boy, I'm *such* a geek...

Next off, I finished a tech review for
a book that Addison-Wesley is working on. This was a significant
step in my book review "career", in that they contacted me asking
if I would be interested in critiquing the working draft. And they
paid me... :-) I always wondered if something like this would
end up happening somewhere down the line. I'll be interested to see
how my input is viewed and/or incorporated.

I also bought a new computer this weekend.
I want to start working with Linux, but I don't have an extra box
around the house (and I don't want to dual-boot my laptop). Cam had
a machine that would be fine, but of course that's *his* computer. I
found a refurbished eMachines computer at Frye's for $400. 80 GB
hard drive, 512 DDR memory, CD-RW, DVD, blah, de blah, de blah. I
gave Cam that one and I'll get his machine. Everyone's happy. Hopefully
next week I'll start working with Fedora.

And later this week (Thursday/Friday/Saturday),
I'll be part of the Penton editorial conference in Colorado (the group
that puts out e-Pro). I'm looking forward to meeting with my counterparts
as well as meeting some of the other people who influence my writings.
Little did I think when I first had an article published online in
2002, I'd end up with my own newsletter with e-Pro. Perhaps I'll
write a book sometime and call it "The Accidental Writer". :-)

06/12/2004

Linux desktop and Lotus Notes... We've *got* to get there...

Availability of applications is still
a stumbling block for some organizations mulling a move to Linux -- such
as Steinbach, Man.-based C.P. Loewen Enterprises Ltd., which is happy with
its Linux-based servers running Oracle database software, but won't
consider desktop Linux until IBM's Lotus Notes has better support for the
operating system.

06/12/2004

Whoo-hoo! No more complaints about blog load speeds, people!

OK... I really *should* be doing
a tech review on a book that Addison-Wesley asked me to do. But this
blog loading speed was still bugging me.

I took the subform that contained the daily
stories view and removed the embedded view. The load times were *much*
improved. I then focused on what was causing the load times to be
bad for that view. I removed a view selection formula item that included
a @TextToTime("Today") part, so I can't "pre-date"
published items any more (like I ever did anyway). But the big winner
was the indexing settings. That view was set to index "at most,
every six hours". Not good. To compound the error, the
view indexing was set to discard *AFTER EACH USE*! So, every time
you called up my blog, you were reindexing that view. No *wonder*
the load times sucked.

On my laptop, I went from spiking the CPU
at 90% for each page hit to a mere 25%. I think that setting was
the "magic bullet".

And I'm sorry about all the bad things
I said about your hosting server, Chris... :-)

06/12/2004

"Linux Is More Of A Threat Than Before" - A lesson in critical reading...

The main gist of this story is that people
are using the threat of a Linux migration to extract better terms from
Microsoft. Nothing new there. But I'm trying to read more critically
now, and a few things really jumped out at me...

"It's definitely more of a threat
than it was," said Nick Barley, director of marketing at Microsoft,
when asked if more businesses are telling Microsoft that they're planning
to migrate to Linux rather than to one of its own operating systems or
applications in the hope of getting a better deal.

Barley wouldn't say how successful this
tactic has been.

Well, it's nice to see that Microsoft is
acknowledging that there's a problem out there.

"It shouldn't be successful if
we have built an appropriate value-based relationships with our customers,
so that they appreciate the extra value that we offer," Barley said,
speaking at a Microsoft event in London. The '20:20 Seminar Series: Microsoft
Windows and Linux' event was billed as an "open and honest technology
discussion" and included speeches from Microsoft executives and independent
parties.

Whoa there... I am to believe that
a Microsoft event, with Microsoft executives and "independant parties"
is supposed to be an "open and honest technology discussion"?
Um... sure. Just like I'd expect an IBM event, with IBM
executives and independant parties, to be an open and honest discussion
about the merits of Exchange vs. Notes. Of *course* a vendor is going
to slant things.

Microsoft used Thursday's event to try
and dispel what it called "the myths" surrounding Linux. A key
plank in its argument is that open-source software isn't actually cheaper
in the long run because companies need to spend more on retraining IT staff
who may be experienced in Windows software but not in the open-source arena.

"We asked an audience of 250 or
300 business people today if they thought that Linux was a free option,
and no hands went up," said Nicholas McGrath, head of platform strategy
at Microsoft.

OK... so much for the "open and
honest" part. And I found the hand-raising exercise encouraging.
*NO* technology option is free. Hardware isn't free, support
takes time, and time is money. Licensing is certainly cheaper. The
retraining costs are a bit of a red herring. Learning Active Directory
didn't require retraining? Learning Windows 2000 server from NT didn't
require training? Going from VB6 to C# was a no-brainer? Every
technology professional has to be forever "training".

Paul Hartigan, chief executive of PharmiWeb
Solutions -- who attended the event as an example of a satisfied Microsoft
customer -- said that he would welcome more visibility regarding Microsoft's
pricing structure.

PharmiWeb recently chose to use Visual
Studio .Net rather than J2EE or Eclipse, the open-source, Linux-based tool,
as the development environment for a portal it has build for the healthcare
sector. Hartigan said that the number one reason for making this decision
was that Microsoft was a "one-stop-shop" for PharmiWeb's various
needs.

*THAT'S* an example of an "independant
party" at the event? O...K... This customer does illustrate
that there is no single solution that works for everyone. For PharmiWeb,
going with Microsoft made sense for them. And that's good. Choice
in the marketplace is good.

I guess my point in all this is that we
all need to learn to "read between the lines" of stories like
this. Delve into the things that aren't said. Look at who has
a vested interest in an event. Read the fine print. All may
not be as it seems...

06/11/2004

A few tweaks to ye olde blog...

I still haven't found the magic change
to make this blog scream on loading (instead of the user screaming at it
for taking so long). I did find that by removing the Google and Referrers
blocks, it dropped a few seconds from the load time. I also cut down
the number of blocks that are allowed (from 10 to 5) as well as removing
the "NoCache" lookups for those blocks. Still not great,
but getting somewhat better.

I also fixed the comment RSS feed to where
it shouldn't be broken any more. I found that if someone led off
a comment with one of the emoticons, the CDATA statement ended up dropping
the left bracket in the coding. I just modified the view to always
add a space after the left bracket. No more emoticon worries.

06/11/2004

The new U.S. Navy...

The effects of budget cuts on the Navy are reflected in their most recent
acquisition of the modified shallow draft aircraft carrier. Though not
quite equal to the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) or the precomm George HW
Bush (CVN 77), it's proponents tout it's maneuverability, low profile,
and reduced operating costs associated with its fuel consumption and reduced
manning requirements. The only complaint received thus far are is from
the pilots who think the squad bay has lost some of it's luster.

There have also been discussions among senior
Naval and Coast Guard staff who are considering its use in the war on terrorism
as part of the fleet used to maintain Maritime Domain Awareness.

06/10/2004

What are we coming to as a society?

I'm sitting here writing some content for the e-ProWire newsletters, watching
game 3 of the NBA playoffs. ABC is advertising two new series to
debut soon. One is called WifeSwap. The other shows a woman
crossing off items on her to-do list, and the last is "cheat on husband".
The series is called Desperate Housewives.
I don't know if these are dramas, comedies, or reality series. All
I *do* know is that this is just plain wrong.

06/09/2004

Domino Does Not Normalize Multiple Sequential Escape Characters in a URL

OK... this one bit me today. We
are undergoing a migration of servers from 5.x to 6.5.1. Our internal
web server has been running fine. But today, a user called and said
that a document that had Word attachments was returning an HTTP error 400
when clicking on the attachments. Two of the attachments were fine,
but the other three were in error. And it worked in R5 but not now.
What's the problem?

During some troubleshooting, a stray random
thought hit me and I figured it out. The failing Word attachments
all had percent signs in their names. When I changed the name of
the document and reattached it, all was fine. I then went looking
in the Knowledgebase to figure out *why* it worked before and not now.
This is the answer...

Domino Does Not Normalize Multiple Sequential
Escape Characters in a URL

Document Number: 1107117

Problem

You have an application that is coded to
use URLs that contain multiple escape characters in order to represent
their ASCII or UTF8 equivalent, as in this example:

http://<server-name>/dbname.nsf/Files/$File/master%2520news%25201.txt

With Lotus Domino R5 this works as desired
and displays the text file indicated in the URL. When executed on
a Domino 6 server, these URLs no longer work but return the following error
message:

This issue was reported to Lotus software
Quality Engineering and has been addressed in Domino 6.0.3 with the addition
of the NOTES.INI parameter HTTPAllowDecodedUrlPercent=1. Add this
parameter to the server's NOTES.INI file to avoid the error.

To work around the issue in earlier releases,
do not use multiply encoded escape character sequences; special characters
should be singly encoded instead.

06/09/2004

Random Wednesday Musings...

Yes, I know this blog loads as slow as
molasses... no, I don't know why yet. Yes, someday I will probably
fix it.

Heard a great new project management metric
today... Truck Number -- the size of the smallest set of people
in a project such that, if all of them get creamed by a truck, the project
is in serious trouble.

I got an email today that referenced an
event at this year's USENIX conference: "*PUBLIC DEBATE:
Scott Charney, Microsoft's Chief Trustworthy
Computing Strategist, will debate Dan Geer, Chief Scientist at Verdasys,
on the security threat of a Windows monoculture. " Imagine
being Microsoft's Chief Trustworthy Computing Strategist... That's
gotta be a position that sucks.

06/07/2004

Random sports-related musings on this fine Monday...

Tonight... Game 7 of the Stanley
Cup finals (hockey for those who don't follow sports), Calgary vs. Tampa
Bay in Tampa Bay. This has been a great playoff year, and it doesn't
get much better than a game 7 of the finals. I'm torn on who to root
for, however... For Tampa Bay, you have Dave Andreychuk, a 22 year
veteran who has never played for the Cup, much less gotten his name on
it. Great guy, and I'm a sucker for a good personal interest sports
story. On the other hand, It's been 10 years since the Cup was won
by a Canadian team, and come on... This *is* hockey! I'm just
hoping for a close, physical game... Maybe even an overtime or two...

Although I watch the finals, I find basketball
continues to bore me more and more. I don't even like to follow the
Portland Trailblazers, the hometown team. The only thing I liked
about last night's game 1 of the finals is that all the sports analysis
"experts" were *so* wrong. I really don't like the Lakers
with their attitude and all. I'd like to like Detroit, but I just
can't bring myself to root for Rasheed Wallace after all the garbage he
pulled in Portland. Here he was an underachieving head case who wouldn't
talk to the media and racked up drug convictions. Now he's the greatest
thing since sliced bread in Detroit...

06/06/2004

Book Review - Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming by Robert Vieira

Occasionally I have the need to leave my
IBM/Lotus programming platform and interact with data stored in Microsoft
SQL Server 2000. I even have it running on my laptop as a higher-end
alternative to Access. I found that the book, Professional
SQL Server 2000 Programming by Robert
Vieira (Wrox) is a very good reference for manipulating data in that environment.

Vieira concentrates specifically on the
programming aspects of SQL Server 2000 as opposed to teaching you how to
administer the server. He does touch on an administration overview
in chapter 30, but it's not something you'd read in order to pass an administration
exam. Although the title does say "Professional", this
does not mean you have to be a veteran SQL programmer to benefit from it.
The earlier chapters cover the fundamentals of RDBMS technology,
as well as how SQL is used in a SQL Server 2000 environment. The
further you get into the book, the more you'll find subjects that are either
more advanced or cover techniques you'll use in application development,
such as how to build triggers and stored procedures. While you will
learn all these skills within the SQL Server 2000 platform, the core technologies
are transferable to just about any RDBMS. Time spent with this book
will continue to pay off regardless of what database system you need to
use at any given time.

While the content is technical, the writing
style is conversational and approachable. It's actually quite easy
to read the material and digest the concepts without trying to fight against
the author's style. If you have need to work with SQL Server 2000
from a development standpoint, this is definitely a book to consider to
guide you along the way.

ReviewWhat can you say about a reference book
that is in it’s 5th edition? In this field, technologies change
rapidly and it’s tough to keep up. Often, authors stop after a first
edition of a book, either due to lack of sales, financial return, or lack
of interest in creating a follow-up. Not only has Danny Goodman created
a definitive guide to the JavaScript language, he’s continued to keep
it current and fresh through five iterations. For that alone, he
could be commended. But aside from longevity, this is likely the
most complete coverage I’ve seen on a given topic.

By starting off with a tutorial that is
easy to follow, the JavaScript Bible will appeal to new users of the scripting
language. All of the essentials are covered, along with questions
at the end of each chapter to test your retention. For the veteran
coder, parts 3 and 4 are worth their weight in gold. Not only is
every method and property of every object covered and documented, but you
also are told what the browser compatibility expectations are. Since
all the browsers are not equal in support of JavaScript, you can quickly
get into situations where a coded routine will run for IE but not Netscape.
You may even find problems between versions of the same brand browser.
By paying attention to the compatibility information, you have a
fighting chance of writing code that will be usable by more than one browser.

This is also a situation where the CD-is
actually useful. The bonus chapters actually add more content to
the book, instead of just adding on demo versions of software that you
will never load. Since the CD contains the entire text of the book,
you also have the distinct advantage of loading the PDF to your computer
and searching for information you need. There isn’t much in this
book that is a waste of time, nor is there much else I can imagine that
could be added to the book to improve it. It’s truly a classic.

ConclusionIf you use JavaScript at all, this is the
single reference book you’ll need to own. This covers it all.

06/06/2004

Book Review - Google: The Missing Manual by Sarah Milstein and Rael Dornfest

Last summer, I had the surprise of receiving
and reviewing the Google
Pocket Guide. I thought it
was for people who didn't know how to use a search engine, but was quickly
corrected in that misconception. Google's power is phenominal. Because
of that, I decided to read and review Google:
The Missing Manual (O'Reilly). Once
again, I continue to be amazed at what Google has put together. The
service, and this book, are great.

This book is split out into five parts
with the following chapters: Introduction; Google 101; Superior Searching;
Googling Further: Images, News, and the Directory; Googling With Others:
Groups and Answers; Shopping with Google; The Google Toolbar; More Cool
Google Tools; Becoming A Search Result; Making Money With Google; Appendix:
The Google Wide Web

Due to fewer space constraints than a Pocket
Guide would have, Milstein and Dornfest can take more time to explain and
illustrate the various features that make up the current Google universe.
If you did nothing more than read the chapters on Google 101 and
Superior Searching, you'd know more than the average Google user. You'd
also give yourself a huge edge in finding relevant content on the web without
slogging through thousands of results. Using their tips, you quickly
pick up the separating line between searching science and searching art.
All the remaining chapters go into features that are less known and
used, but that will blow you away once you find them. Even if you
already know about a feature, like Google images, the chapter can help
you figure out how those image indexes are created, and how to use the
Google search syntax to narrow down your results more quickly.

Another feature I really appreciate about
this book is the instruction on how to manage and design your site to maximize
it's Google interaction. The authors go into the robots.txt specification
and how to either block off your entire site or just certain pages. In
addition, they give you a great overview of how Google crawls and indexes
pages, so you can make sure your site is Google-friendly for the best search
results possible.

You may think you're a Google wizard, but
chances are you're not tapping the full potential. With this book,
you can learn how to turn Google into your second brain and personal research
assistant.

06/06/2004

Book Review - Red Rain by Michael Crow

I recently decided to read a paperback
I've had kicking around for awhile... Red
Rain by Michael Crow. This
is a crime thriller with a very gritty edge to it. Good in some ways,
not so hot in others...

The basic plot is this... Luther
Ewing, a cop, ends up running across a Russian mobster who he apparently
fought next to in some war action. The Russian is pushing drugs into
his area, and Ewing decides to run undercover to get close to him and shut
down the ring. The problem is that he has to do this outside the
bounds of normal law enforcement to protect a number of cops from getting
killed by the ex-Spetnaz employed by the Russian. Plenty of people
in the drug world and law enforcement circles start getting assasinated,
and Ewing has to kill or be killed. There are a few side stories
too, but I'll leave it at that.

Now, the book is written in a first person
style. The main character is half-Vietnamese, half-black, and takes
medication to control brain damage from a bullet wound he suffered. He's
a trained killer, so his emotional side is less than touchy-feely. There's
a darkness and edge to the writing that matches the character and makes
it a compelling read. What I don't like is that much of the background
of the different characters is only alluded to during the story. If
this were a second or third novel with the main character, I could understand
it. But this is the first one, and I would have expected a bit more
character development along the way. I wasn't always sure where the
story was going or why certain things were happening.

So... Stylistically, it's an interesting
read. From just a pure story viewpoint, it was average.

06/05/2004

An absolute must-read... Microsoft's Cash Cow...

This is a longer article, but it's very
much worth the time (in my opinion). Jeff Reifman, a former Microsoft
technology manager, puts into words Microsoft's past, present, and potential
future. I think he touched on all my formed and unformed feelings
and opinions as to why Microsoft's future is not great, as well as why
they have to do everything they can to discourage the use of open-source
alternatives.

06/05/2004

And while we're at it, welcome to the real world, Microsoft workers...

The last few weeks have been "hard"
for Microsoft workers... They only get a 10% discount instead of
15% on their stock purchases. And they will have to start paying
a bit more for their prescriptions. And how dare Microsoft do that
when they have so many billions sitting in the bank?

Forgive me if I have just a bit of difficulty
in working up much sympathy, 'Softies. Corporate America in the mid-2000's
is harsh. You're pretty much guaranteed your next paycheck, and that's
about it (Enron workers didn't even get that in all cases). You can
go on and on about all the unfairness foisted upon the typical worker,
but the reality is what it is. I know the stories of how hard all
you coders work, the insane deadlines and marathon coding sessions, the
lost opportunities at having a life. Perhaps that's why we find most
computer users card-carrying members of the "virus-du-jour-patch-of-the-month"
club. But I digress...

You have jobs... consider yourself
fortunate. You have benefits far in excess of the typical American
company... consider yourself blessed. Your company is in no
immediate danger of declaring bankruptcy or missing their next loan target...
consider yourself relatively secure.

But most of all, look outside your own
little bubble of reality and see the IT world as the rest of us see it.
You still have it far better than almost all others.

06/05/2004

Oh, pul-eeezzzee, Microsoft...

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Microsoft
Brasil's president, Emilio Umeoka, said that ideology led Brazil's government
astray when it decided to adopt Linux's free software in public sector
computers.

"If the country closes itself off
again -- as it did when it protected its information technology, 10 years
from now we will wake up and be dominant in something insignificant,"
Umeoka told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

"My boss once said: 'Irrelevance
is the beginning of the end'," the Brazilian executive of Seattle-based
Microsoft Corp. said.

I am just amazed at the retoric coming
out of Microsoft concerning Linux. Linux is unconstitutional, Linux
is bad for the economy, Linux will destroy your country... Do they
really believe this, or do they know this is an attempt to deceive the
public and protect their monopoly?

The last line I quoted above is really
humorous to me... I keep wondering if those words will come back
to haunt him. :-)

06/03/2004

IE disaster recovery...

A colleague sent an email out with a tip
on recovering from some malware that nailed his browser... I'll pass
this along in case it can help anyone else... Thanks, Bas!

----

Some piece of malware changed my home
page on IE to their particular page which locked up IE beyond redemption.
Restarting IE would try to open their page and bingo! that's all
she wrote.
Knowing that Tools/Internet options has a button to set the current page
as the home page or a blank page, the task became how to get there from
here.
Drawing on the good ole DOS days I thought "what the hey!" In
a command prompt window I CD'd to the IE directory and tried the following:
"IEXPLORE http://www.basex.com" and whaddaya know.... it opened
the home page. Then it was a simple matter to get rid of the offending
lockup URL.
If it ever happens to you..... now you know

06/03/2004

Nasty people...

This should be required reading for all
Human Resource departments... From CIO Insight: Nasty
People

We've all worked with or for nasty people.
Fortunately, my last two employment situations have been "nasty-free"
zones, and a pleasure to work at. Enron Broadband, however... That's
a different story. While there were some brilliant people who worked
there, there were also some absolute emotional nasties that terrorized
the place. Managers and directors who would yell and rant at staff
in open door offices for things beyond their control. Project managers
who threw hissy fits if they didn't get their own way, no matter how unfeasible
or unreasonable their request was. People who felt that burning out
staff was a badge of honor. The longer I examine that situation,
the more unhealthy I realize it was.

There is sometimes payback, however...
Recently I was asked about a person I had known of in a prior employment
life (I'll hide the details here). It wasn't a reference or anything,
but more of a "do you know this person?" question. They
were a major nasty, and I was able to relate that information to the inquiree.
While they were probably qualified for the job, the employer was
more concerned about the fit with the group. Needless to say, that
was probably a death blow to that job opportunity. It was a vivid
reminder to me that in this area and industry, burning bridges and staff
can bite you hard down the road...

06/01/2004

Welcome, e-ProWire Lotus Developer Tips readers!

Today was the initial publication of the
new e-ProWire Lotus Developer Tips newsletter sent to you by e-Pro
Publications. I was fortunate
to be given the opportunity to be the technical editor for that newsletter,
and now I just have to create material that you'll find interesting once
a month... :-)

Feel free to interact with me, and let
me know what you'd like to hear more of or see covered. This newsletter
is meant to be something that will help you in your day-to-day activities
working with Lotus technologies, and the more you talk, the better it will
be.

Some interesting Linux desktop links...

This goes back to a view I expressed earlier
in the year... I think the Linux desktop is gaining traction, and
I don't see it being too far away where Linux at the desktop will be a
viable alternative to Windows. The trend that I'm finding encouraging
is that major tech firms are starting to consider Linux desktops. Getting
Bob's Consulting Company to move to Linux is nice, but that's too small
to register on anyone's scale. Getting a company of 500 people to
move to Linux is interesting, but still not a driving force. But
when you get major tech players (IBM, Oracle, Symantec) making the move,
you now have clout. 800 pound gorillas start to stand up to the 1200
pound ape, and things aren't so certain any more...

I'm still waiting for a box from work so
that I can set up a Linux desktop environment and start playing around.
My goal is to not ditch Microsoft, but to understand the pros and
cons of open source, and to be a resource for our company should the discussion
come up.

Want to support this blog or just say thanks?

When you do that, all your purchases during that session earn me an affiliate commission via the Amazon Affiliate program. You don't have to buy the book I linked you to (although I wouldn't complain!). Simply use that as your starting point.